LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- What Louisville did not want was for the Virginia game to become another Pittsburgh — an inexplicable loss in a game the universe expected the Cardinals to win.

Exhale.

Upset avoided.

Louisville 31, Virginia 24, a seven-point victory as difficult as any seven-point victory can be.

"Of all our victories, I'm probably proudest of our team for this one more than any of them," UofL coach Jeff Brohm said.

For a team now 9-1 overall and 6-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, it was baffling. It won’t score any style points with the skeptics. It was stained by too many penalties, a fumble, a missed field goal and dropped passes.

Virginia intercepted a Jack Plummer pass and returned it for a touchdown. A group of U of L fans actually booed. A chunk of the 44,628 fans left before the game ended. Dabo Swinney would call that fan behavior entitled.

"It wasn't pretty by any means," Plummer said.

Down 21-14 as the fourth quarter began, Louisville rallied with 17 points for the victory. Plummer found a surging Ahmari Huggins-Bruce with a perfect 52-yard touchdown pass.

Isaac Guerendo delivered the winning touchdown, flashing through a modest hole on the right side. He covered 73 yards in 12 dazzling seconds.

"I think that's the sign of a good team to be able to win when things aren't going your way," Plummer said. "Just gut it out and find a way to win. I think that's another step for us."

Truth is the result isn’t even the most significant development of the evening. Not after Virginia halfback Perris Jones left L&N Cardinal Stadium on a stretcher bound for University Hospital with less than a minute to play in the third quarter.

Jones went down and stayed down, lying motionless and seemingly unconscious on the turf after he lowered his head and collided with U of L safety Cam’Ron Kelly, a friend who practiced with Virginia last spring before he transferred to Louisville.

After catching a soft pass in the right flat and then turning downfield, Jones fumbled upon the collision. His teammate, Malik Washington scooped the ball and raced 42 yards for a touchdown.

That gave Virginia 21 straight points in the third quarter and a 21-14 lead. But trainers and doctors from both teams raced on the field to attend to Jones before Washington reached the goal line. This was more than a harsh, nasty hit.

“I guess maybe he lowered his head, or tried to go low, and I went low, too, and it was a collision," Kelly said. "And I guess the ball came out too. It happened and I’m just praying for him basically.

"I said my peace to him while he was on the stretcher and nothing but love for him and wish him a speedy recovery.”

The stadium got as quiet as a library when Jones stayed on the turf for more than 10 minutes. Jones is a sixth-year senior that some called the team’s renaissance man.

He plays guitar. He writes poetry. Jones has been a significant part of the healing within the Virginia program, which endured a tragedy last season after 3 football players were shot and killed on campus. The anniversary of that horror will be Monday.

The news of the night came 45 minutes after the game when two sources from the University of Louisville said the word from the hospital was that Jones was alert and physically responsive. The Virginia football program confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) than Jones regained movement in all of his extremities.

On a night Louisville was expected to win by 20.5 points (their largest point spread against an FBS opponent this season) the Cardinals did not look like a team that belongs in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, other than by refusing to disappear after Virginia went ahead.

And that item — the ACC title game — becomes the talking point now because Brohm will take his team to Miami a week from Saturday (Nov. 18) positioned to secure a spot in the ACC final against Florida State.

A North Carolina loss to Duke Saturday night would also put the Cardinals in the title game but either way only Louisville can stop Louisville now.

Virginia nearly did it. But Brohm’s team figured it out over the final 15 minutes. They allowed their first touchdown in more than 163 minutes (2 1/2 games) 11 minutes into the third quarter.

Then Plummer threw the pick six. Then Virginia scored after recovering the fumble by Jones.  But in the fourth quarter, the Cards rolled to 187 yards and 17 points after managing only 14 points and 236 in the first three quarters.

"We had a couple of weeks where everything went right and we played about as well as we could," Brohm said. "Of course that's what you always try to do ...

"... but I'm proud of our guys to hang in there when things were not going our way, play to the end and find a way to make enough big plays to win and get some stops at the end. 

"That's really how football works."

The Cards have nine days to heal before playing the Hurricanes, who are 6-3 but have lost 3 of their last 5.

Miami beat Texas A&M and Clemson but lost to North Carolina as well as a pair of teams that Louisville defeated — Georgia Tech and North Carolina State. Miami plays at No. 4 Florida State Saturday.

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